The Designer’s Review of Books

Designer, academic and writer Andy Polaine has set up The Designer’s Review of Books, a blog dedicated solely to examining both the content and production values of some of the design publications vying for your attention (and hard earned cash)…

Designer, academic and writer Andy Polaine has set up The Designer’s Review of Books, a blog dedicated solely to examining both the content and production values of some of the design publications vying for your attention (and hard earned cash)…

“I started The Designer’s Review of Books for a few reasons,” says Polaine. “I’d been thinking of a decent niche website/blog idea that would extend my design journalism and, whilst I was trying to research something online, I noticed that there wasn’t really a website dedicated to design book reviews.”

Also, Polaine is based in Offenburg, a small town in Germany, and so conducts much of his design and teaching work remotely. While the benefits of moving out of the city are numerous, one problem he found was the lack of nearby bookshops geared towards creative titles.

“Amazon makes it easy to shop online,” he says, “but a lot of the reviews are unreliable, or you have no idea who the person is doing the review.” In response to this, he hopes that his critical take on design books will become a trusted resource for the creative industry.

“Design books are a mixed bag,” he says. “Some look great but the text is really shabby (I have a review of one such book coming up soon). Others promise a lot and are terribly produced. And there are some books that designers should read that are not strictly design books. It depends on the book, but sometimes it’s about the book as an object in its own right, and that is hard to judge online.

“I try and write about the production values of the book as well as the content so that others who are in my position – and there must be many – can take a punt on buying a book they have never had in their hands.”

Polaine also plans to post guest reviews by designers and possibly include some author interviews further down the line.

“It seems like a dream to have a stack of design books on your desk until you have to read them all and write reviews (and photograph them),” he says. “I read the books thoroughly rather than just skimming through, otherwise it’s pointless. But that takes a lot of time.

“It is a labour of love at the moment, so of course, I also hope design firms and publishers will want to advertise on the DRB so I can keep it going.”

Over the next two years, McDonald’s will roll out its new packaging to 13,900 ‘restaurants’ in the US and thereafter to another 117 countries worldwide. But will it ‘change the way the world feels about eating McDonald’s food’?

Carabo, 2005 by Benedict Redgrave. Available as a digital c-type print on crystal archive matt paper 40.5 x 51cm in a limited edition of 20 signed by the artist. £381.70
We’ve just heard word that Wallpaper* magazine, in collaboration with art publishers Eyestorm, are to open a pop-up gallery entitled Wallpaper* Selects at London’s swanky St Martins Lane Hotel. The space, which will be open to the public from 10-19 December, will showcase ten works by photographers whose work has appeared in Wallpaper* in recent years: Jonathan de Villiers, Mauricio Alejo, Jonathan Frantini, Christopher Griffith, Stefan Ruiz, Daniel Stier, Benedict Redgrove and Joël Tettamanti.

Crunchy Nut Cornflakes ambient campaign, agency: JWT London, art director: Mark Norcutt, copywriter: Laurence Quinn, illustrator: Jon Hicks, photographer: Mike Russell
JWT London has created this unusual ambient campaign for Crunchy Nut Cornflakes. In an attempt to tempt customers to keep eating the cereal in autumn (sales traditionally drop off over the winter months as people switch to hot breakfasts), pavement artist Jon Hicks drew Kellogg’s bowls around London, before sweeping autumn leaves into them to emulate the cornflakes. Click through to see more images of Hicks making the drawings.